Liam woke with crust in his eyes and had to rub and blink for a good long while to get it all out. Katin snored beside him still. She had been dead to the world when he’d come back from the malthouse. Poor girl, being made to leave the fun and run an errand like that. What had made David Coalridge so cruel?
That day saw them trade well with the folk of Turnbull. Liam was busy until sundown counting, recording, double-checking. Coalridge seemed in a slightly better mood than usual, so Liam risked his suggestion again about separating sundries and dry goods. Coalridge glared, but barked that if Liam wanted to keep an extra ledger for sundries and see if it reconciled better later on, he was welcome to it. Assuming it didn’t interfere with his normal duties.
Liam smiled weakly and agreed. He hadn’t expected extra work from this. It was supposed to save them work in the long run! That’s what I get for trying to help.
The caravan moved on, turning north. “We aren’t going to Stokeston?” he asked when Coalridge gave the order to strike camp the next morning.
Coalridge glared. “No good trading in Stokeston.”
“But it’s a huge city, the ducal seat,” Liam argued. “Not so big as Callaston, surely, but—”
“You want to go to Stokeston, be my guest,” Coalridge bit at him, and stomped away.
Liam sought out Stump—the enormous guard was always good for a chat, and seemed to like him—and asked what Coalridge had against Stokeston. “Banned from it, see,” Stump informed him. “Some bad business wit’ th’ duke. He don’t fancy t’ talk about it.”
Liam was halfway back to the laundry wagon before it occurred to him to wonder why he cared so much about the caravan’s financial fortunes. Curse me, my father was right. I have a head for this. The thought made him grumble all that night. He and Katin had been with the caravan for weeks now, and it was starting to feel familiar. Something like a home. He was getting too attached.
The next afternoon the caravan nearly reached another little town called Carson’s Watch, but they saw smoke on the horizon as they approached it. Something was burning. Coalridge sent one of the guards riding on ahead to investigate. He returned to tell of frightened villagers and some building that had been torched.
“Not like them,” Coalridge muttered. “Always a good town. Pah. Can’t risk it.” He shouted out to the other wagon drivers. “We’ll go around east, toward Brookings.”
The caravan camped by the side of the road that night, a mile or two away from the town, and the next morning had gone barely another mile before the wagons came to a halt. Liam rode on the seat of the laundry wagon; Marcus drove it. “What’s this about? We going back to Carson’s?” he said. “Maybe ol’ Coalridge’s sense of profit won out over his caution.”
“That’d be a change,” Liam joked. He hopped down to go see what was the matter, and noticed Katin peering around the side of the wagon. She’d been riding within, wanting to be alone whenever she could, ever since Turnbull. She can’t be regretting one night of drinking that much, can she?
Liam went up toward the van. Indistinct shouting floated back to him. A crowd had already gathered, guards and apprentices watching something. Their bodies were tense, he noticed, their arms held close.
He pushed past them just in time to hear a sharp crack as David Coalridge slapped Janice Briggs across the face so hard she fell into the mud. One breast popped free of her low-cut bodice, and she scrambled to cover it. “I didn’t!” she wailed at him.
“Yes you did!” Coalridge screamed back at her. “You are mine alone, do you hear me? Do you?” He reached down and grabbed her by the hair. “Tell me who it is!”
“What’s going on?” Liam demanded.
Coalridge jerked upright, letting Janice fall back into the mud. “This whore lay with another man!” he shouted, jabbing a stubby finger accusingly at the woman. “And I will know who!” He aimed a kick at her, but missed by inches when she lurched aside.
This was too much for Liam. “Leave her be!” he roared, and shoved Coalridge back. He had half a foot on the man, and twenty years of youth, but Coalridge glared angrily and reached for his dagger anyway.
Liam had left his sword in the wagon, and whipped his own dagger out instead. “Whatever she did, this is no way to treat a woman,” he challenged.
Coalridge hesitated. “Why do you care, apprentice?” He was about to speak again when Janice shouted, “It was him!”
Liam glanced at her, keeping Coalridge in his field of view. When he saw where her finger pointed, he almost dropped the dagger.
She was pointing at him.
What in the name of Chaos? “I never! What in the world are you talking about?”
“Yes! It was him, I swear it!” she sobbed, scrambling to her feet and scuttling over to cower behind Coalridge. “He made me, he said he’d hurt me! Please, don’t let him—”
Red clouded Liam’s vision. “This is absurd! I—I’m married, I’d never touch her!”
“It’s not him!” came Katin’s shout, and he saw her burst through the crowd and into the little clearing which surrounded them. Liam saw now that everyone in the caravan watched them all in horror. Even imperious Li Saong’s jaw had dropped open, as she stared down from her wagon seat.
“You… you!” Coalridge said, ignoring Katin.
“No! It wasn’t him!” Katin said, rushing in by Liam’s side. “It was…” She glanced around. Who is she looking for? How does she know about this? “Where is he?” Her voice came out soft and strangled.
“Who?” Liam demanded.
Katin’s gaze caught someone. “Him. Cameron!” she shouted.
All eyes turned to the wagon owner, unruffled in an emerald silk vest. He looked perplexed. “Me? That’s ridiculous,” he said calmly.
Master Coalridge looked less certain now, his eyes darting between Liam and Cameron, who stepped forward through the crowd. “Cameron, lad. This isn’t true, is it?” Coalridge growled.
“Of course not. Forgive me, but everyone knows Janice is yours. I would never dream of interfering.” He sketched a bow.
“I told you, it was him!” Janice shrieked, pointing at Liam again.
“I saw them together!” Katin shouted back. “Her and Mister Longwood! At the inn, in Turnbull. Coming back from the malthouse. I saw you go in there!”
“You did, did you?” Cameron said. “I must admit, I did visit the inn in Turnbull. Tell us, what else did you see when you were sneaking about?”
Katin hesitated. “Go on,” Liam urged her. “What happened?” Why hadn’t she told him about this?
“I… I saw you go into a room… I heard her voice,” she glanced at Janice. “And you were… they were together,” she ended weakly.
“Well?” Coalridge demanded.
“I’m afraid she’s caught me. But alas, that was not Janice in that room. It was one Missus Torvand, a woman I’ve known quite a long time. I’m afraid her husband would be quite put out if he knew where she’d gotten to that evening.” He chuckled, and some of the crowd did as well. “I admit, she does have a similar voice to our dear Janice. I suppose you’d been drinking at the malthouse that night, hmm?”
Katin shook her head angrily. “No, it was her, I heard her.”
Coalridge rounded on Janice, seeming to realize for the first time that the woman he’d been assaulting earlier now hung on his arm. “Well? Don’t lie to me, woman, or I’ll make you regret it.”
“I swear, it wasn’t me. I went to bed early that evening! Ask the guards, they saw me.” She looked around frantically. “Him! He saw me.” She pointed at Larkin, the guard.
Larkin nodded, picking at his fingernails absently. “That I did, sir. She went right to her wagon soon’s dinner were done.”
Liam was bewildered. He knew he hadn’t done any such thing as sleep with Janice. Katin seemed so sure of what she’d seen. Why didn’t you tell me?
“I do believe the conclusion is obvious,” Cameron said.
Liam felt surrounded. Hostile glares came f
rom many of the onlookers. Even Maggie was scowling at him now, the girl who couldn’t keep her hands off him. He looked at Coalridge. “Master Coalridge, please believe me, I would never do this! I’m married!” He held up his hands, praying that the false rings on his fingers would somehow convince them all.
Coalridge stepped forward, shrugging off Janice’s grasp. He stared at Liam, then Katin. “I knew you were trouble. No wonder that baron wanted rid of you.” His eyes flicked to the side a little, and he nodded.
Liam spun, but too late. A cudgel cracked him over the head, and his vision flashed with lights. He felt his hands hit the ground, and then another thump landed across his back, and he fell belly-first into the muck. “Sorry,” he heard Stump mutter. Katin shrieked, and time stretched out mercilessly as the caravan guard beat Liam senseless.
———
The sky looked so blue. Pain covered Liam head to toe like a blanket. A warm sensation on his cheek stood out against the agony. He eventually realized that Katin cradled his head in her lap. At least Stump hadn’t killed him. Death couldn’t possibly hurt this much.
After a while some semblance of clarity returned to him, and Katin helped him sit up against the bole of a tree. The caravan was nowhere to be seen. Their beat-up leather trunk sat on the ground beside them, a dagger perched atop it. It wasn’t his; no, it was hers. He recognized the serpent coiling around the pommel. A gift from Baron Parvis.
Katin held a round metal canteen to his lips and helped him drink. The water was warm, but better than nothing.
“They left us,” she said. “You’ve been unconscious for a while. Coalridge took your sword and dagger. All we have is mine.” Her eyes were red, her face more determined than ever. He wanted to kiss her, but the pain was too much to bear.
At least nothing feels broken, he thought, moving all his muscles one by one. Thanks, Stump. Every part of him protested, but he soon found that he could stand. Katin put an arm under his. “I don’t know what to do. Maybe we just have to go back to that last town.”
“The one that was on fire?” he coughed. “Might be an improvement.” At least she smiled a little. It lifted his own spirits; he felt a useless fool for having gotten into this situation.
It took until afternoon to reach the edge of Carson’s Watch, with Katin dragging their trunk along and Liam stumbling and stopping every few paces to rest. The land here was dank and swampy, and there were few farms. They saw one on the way into town that looked abandoned. The field beside it had been burned.
Like Turnbull, this town had no wall. “We have a little coin,” Katin said to him as they stopped to rest at the side of the road near a cottage. Several more like it marched up the lane into the town. “We can probably get a room in the inn, for at least one night.”
“Only a little? What happened to all the silver?” Liam said, breathing heavily as he tried to recover from the last stretch of walking.
Katin bit her lip. “Coalridge took it,” she said. “He said we owed him for all the trouble we caused. All that’s left is what was in my dress.” She patted at a pocket, which clinked a little.
“We should… should save it,” Liam said, remembering his adventure into Callaston to rescue her, and how the silver had slipped through his fingers like water.
“No! You need food, and water, and a bed.”
He was too tired to argue, and let it be. They rested a while, and the occasional passerby gave them odd looks but hurried on. After a while, Liam felt strong enough to walk again, but as they stood, four men on horseback rode up, armed with swords and mail. “You there,” the largest one called out. He looked to be Liam’s own age, maybe younger. His eyes were sunk deep into his face, in the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat. “What business have you here?”
Liam tried to speak, but started coughing and doubled over in pain. Katin spoke instead. “We’re with… we were with a caravan, but they stole our coin and threw us out. And beat my… my husband near to death.”
“He don’t look well,” said one of the men.
“Nonsense, I could take the lot of you one-handed,” Liam wheezed, and doubled over coughing again. Someone laughed; whether with him or at him, he had no idea. When he looked up again, the men all seemed less tense, but their leader still glared.
“Make no trouble or we’ll have you on the gallows. And be gone by nightfall, or else.” He jerked his head and the party rode off, back into the town.
“Four men against a half-dead merchant’s son and his bride,” Liam muttered. “We must seem more threatening than I feel.”
“I’m more of a threat than you are right now,” Katin said, holding tight to his arm. “Come on.” She helped him take a few steps, when another voice called out behind them.
“You there. Excuse me,” said a woman. Liam turned around. He saw a woman wearing black wool and a white bonnet. A goodwife of the town, no doubt.
“Yes?” Katin said tensely.
“Strangers,” she murmured. She looked ambivalent, Liam thought.
A young boy came running up to her and tugged on her apron. “Mama. Mama!”
“Hush. You,” she said, addressing Liam. “Are you what you said you are, to those men?”
“Yes, though I wish we weren’t. It might have saved me a beating.”
“We’re going to take a room at the inn,” Katin said. “Do you know the way?”
The woman shook her head. “The inn’s burned. You picked a bad day. Come on.” She gestured toward the house they’d passed. “Come rest. I can’t let the likes of you roam about. It’ll just mean more trouble.”
Liam looked down at Katin as she held him. She met his eyes, and he nodded. “Can’t be worse,” he muttered.
The little wooden house had a garden around back. The goodwife brought them through a gap in a hedge beside it, and in through the back door. Liam could feel his strength slipping away, and it was a blessed relief to sit on the chair she offered when they came into the kitchen.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Katin said. Liam couldn’t summon the energy to speak.
The goodwife fetched them cups of water and a bit of bread. She watched them eat and drink, then patted her son on the back. “Edward, go out in the garden and play. Don’t you dare go out in the road, you hear?”
The little boy looked no older than five or six, and had been staring intently at Liam and Katin with pale blue eyes under a blond mop. He nodded at his mother and scampered outside.
“My name’s Lisa,” she said. “Lisa Cordway. My husband’s a tanner. He’ll be home soon. There’s not much business right now.”
“Thank you so much for helping us,” Katin said, standing.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m doing this,” Lisa said after a moment.
“Yes,” Liam blurted, “we’re just too polite to ask.” Katin shushed him.
Lisa leaned against the counter, clasping her hands before her apron. “Strangers like you’ll get in trouble in this town. There’s… Now this’ll sound mad, I know, but by the Aspect of Terror I swear it’s true.”
“It’s all right,” Katin said. “What is it?”
“Well, these weeks past… one of the women in town, she… she’s a witch.”
Liam forgot all his pain for a moment. “Come again?”
“She… she can do things. She makes fire out of thin air. We all thought it was trickery at first, but when she…” Lisa’s voice wavered. “Our blacksmith, Arliss, he challenged her, and she… he just burst into flames.”
Liam and Katin exchanged a look. “Amira?” he whispered.
Katin shrugged uncertainly. The goodwife wrung her hands and went on. “Anyhow, I couldn’t let strangers walk into that without at least knowing about it. We pride ourselves on providing for travellers, in this town. Or we did. She’ll likely let you be if you don’t cross her or take her fancy, but them that do…”
“What does she look like?” Liam asked. “Young, old, tall, short, fair, dark?”
“Yo
ung, maybe twenty years. I’m not sure exactly. Shorter than I am. Dark hair. She’s married to old Farmer Broxton. Now did that pairing ever raise some eyebrows.”
“Not Amira,” Katin whispered back to Liam. He nodded. It sounds like we’ve found another like her. If this woman had gotten the townsfolk whipped into a state like this, she wasn’t likely to be as friendly and kind as Amira.
“If you please, ma’am,” Liam said, grunting a little as he straightened in the chair. He’d be covered in bruises for days, but at least he could move. “Could you tell us from the start, what happened with this… person?”
Lisa Cordway eyed them. “Maybe you’d better tell me something. I already did you fair with the warning.”
“True enough.” Liam coughed a little and looked to Katin. “Maybe you’d better tell the story… wife.” Let’s keep the ruse up, he meant, hoping she’d take the hint.
Katin nodded and told the story of Oliver and Susan Smith, and how they’d been unfairly exiled from a trade caravan. Missus Cordway looked a little dubious at the assertion that Liam would never, ever stray, and even Liam thought Katin’s insistence a bit much. She really wants to believe it.
When Katin finished, Lisa told them about a young woman named Adeline Broxton. An unremarkable girl from an unremarkable family of farmers, she’d been married off young—very young, barely of age—to old Jerome Broxton, who had a sheep farm out west a ways. Some said she had a cruel streak, and it was good she was out in the countryside. But then a month or so ago, she’d come into town on market day, and Sally Parkins, who’d always hated and teased Adeline, suddenly dropped dead right in front of a stall full of turnips. Everyone was startled and horrified, but Adeline laughed, saying the girl only got what she deserved.
Rumors began to fly, and two weeks later Adeline returned, only this time she had half a dozen thugs with her, brutish men who obeyed her every command. Some said they were from out near Averhel, to the west. Liam wondered if Adeline had made trouble out there; maybe that was why Averhel’s magistrate had been so paranoid.
Adeline had the thugs start beating people she didn’t like, men and women both, and taking whatever she fancied. The magistrate of Carson’s Watch mysteriously vanished. Arliss Felton, the blacksmith, got some men together to try and stop them, but when he confronted Adeline in the town square, she pointed her finger at him and his clothes all caught fire. No one dared help him, and he died screaming.
Adeline had named herself the new magistrate, and made the townsfolk swear fealty to her or suffer the same fate as Arliss Felton. The thugs continued roaming the town, vandalizing and stealing. Some townsfolk fled; others, who Adeline didn’t like, just disappeared.
Baron Corvis Tollerand, who held sway over this part of Barrowmere County, heard the news of havoc wrought, and brought twenty men and a Warden from the nearby garrison. When they arrived, demanding Adeline present herself, she did. Tollerand and the Warden were killed; perhaps five of the soldiers had escaped with their lives. Adeline had subsequently declared herself the new baroness of Carson’s Watch.
That had been two days ago.
———
Katin and Liam listened raptly as Lisa’s story spilled out. This Adeline obviously had the same power as Amira, but she sounded even crueler than Edon.
When her story ended, Lisa Cordway stared down at her hands, trembling. “I’ve got chores to see to. You’re welcome to stay awhile,” she offered to Katin and Liam. “Although, my husband… he’ll be home soon…”
Anger coursed through Liam, but it met up against a stubbornness that said Don’t get involved. Liam might stand a chance against any normal foe, but if this girl could do what Amira could, she could kill him with a thought at fifty feet. They had to get out of here. How? We have no money, no horse, and I’m half-broken. For now. He’d heal. He’d gotten better after Foxhill Keep. He’d been beaten before. When his father had found him at that army garrison… The memory of it made Liam’s blood rise, and then he thought about the caravan, and how Stump had taken him by surprise and beaten him senseless. It was good he was too sore to move; he wanted to take the Cordways’ skillet off its hook and start smashing things.
Katin spoke while Liam was still brooding. “Will he take kindly to strangers in his house?”
Lisa shrugged. “He’s a good man. He trusts me. If I say you’re travellers, if I explain—”
Liam heard the front door creak as it swung open. Lisa bolted upright and nearly ran toward the front of the house. “James, dear husband…” Her voice trailed off, and Liam could only hear low murmurs. His fury had begun to drain away. He focused on his sore muscles and tried to sit up straighter.
“We should go,” Katin said, nervously peeking toward the front room.
“Where? Into the dragon’s maw, daggers swinging? Dagger, that is. We’ve only got the one.” He shifted his weight again. “At least give him a chance. Maybe he’ll let us stay. Once I’m better, I can work. And you already can. Never met a goodwife who didn’t appreciate some help around the house.”
Katin raised an eyebrow at him. “Hanging around other men’s women hasn’t been good for you lately.”
Liam chuckled as much as his aching sides would let him. “Coalridge and Janice weren’t married any more than we are.”
Katin glanced away. “You never—you wouldn’t have—”
“By Ardor, no,” Liam insisted. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s hardly a man alive who wouldn’t stare at Janice’s—hey, don’t look at me like that,” he said, when Katin looked at him exactly like that. “Anyway, you said you saw her with that bastard Longwood.”
“Yes, you’re right, I did.” She blushed, holding his hand but still not meeting his eyes. Liam blew out a sigh and shook his head a little. Did Katin know how well and truly she’d scrambled his wits?
Footsteps approached, and Liam did his best to look unthreatening. Being covered in bruises might not endear him to this James Cordway. Well, maybe if the man thought Liam was easy to beat up…
James Cordway was tall, with a strong jaw and wide shoulders, as blond and blue-eyed as little Edward, who could not more obviously be his son. Lisa stood behind him, nervously chewing on a thumbnail.
Katin stood and curtseyed. “Mister Cordway, thank you so kindly for you and your wife’s hospitality. I’m Susan Smith, and this is my husband Oliver.”
Liam nodded as deeply as he could. “I would stand, but I seem to have recently fallen onto a pile of cudgels.”
James Cordway grinned. “Lot of folks had accidents around these parts lately. My condolences.”
“Your missus told us about the… incidents… of late.” Liam didn’t want to raise the man’s hackles, and tried to stay conversational. “I suppose we picked the wrong town to stumble into.”
James eyed them both. “Well, aside from your own misfortune, you seem like decent folk to me. You can stay for dinner, if you’d like. Assuming you can help out.”
“I can do whatever needs doing,” Katin offered.
“I can crack wise from a sitting position,” Liam added.
And so they did, Katin helping Lisa with the meal and Liam keeping them all entertained with jokes and stories. The Cordways’ daughter, Samantha, came back around dusk, and introductions were made. Samantha was thirteen, apprenticed to the dressmaker in town, and a font of useless gossip about the mysterious Adeline Broxton, until her mother shushed her.
Liam saw tension in the elder Cordways after this. He waited until bellies were full and children had been put to bed before he broached the topic again. “If I may ask… what was burning yesterday?”
James hesitated for a moment, staring down at his empty plate. “The trade office. Some goods come up from Stokeston and Turnbull through here, off east toward Brookings and Elland, on the coast. After… what happened with Baron Tollerand… Missus Broxton…” His brow furrowed with the effort of phrasing things carefully. They’re all subject to wrath of this Adeline now. �
�Baroness Broxton decided it was no longer needed.”
Perhaps the cloak of night made Lisa braver. She leaned in over the table. “We’d heard rumors from up north, about some kind of… witchcraft,” she whispered. “I didn’t believe them at first, of course, no one did, but now…”
“Witchcraft,” Liam repeated. “Was this to do with Prince Edon?”
Lisa nodded. “That was terrible, what happened to King Viktor.” She repeated the story about Edon killing his father with some kind of magic power, and it mostly matched what Liam and Katin had heard in Callaston. The news was spreading; Amira and her ilk were no longer a secret. And now there were at least two others like Amira, so there could easily be more. If Amira’s alive, and half as bright as I think, she’ll be trying to find more like her. Maybe she could build an army to fight Edon. The thought made him shudder: dozens of witches throwing fire at one another, a contest of gods, where regular folk either stayed out of the way or died.
———
The Cordways’ hospitality extended as far as letting Liam and Katin sleep on the kitchen floor, on a pile of spare blankets. After a night’s sleep, Liam was still sore all over, but no longer felt as if merely walking would sap all his strength.
Katin helped Lisa in the kitchen with breakfast. Liam found himself at the dining table with James, drinking tea from little polished pewter mugs. He’d been thinking all morning. We have no resources, no way to get out of here. Even once I’m healed, walking all the way to the coast seems impractical. We need horses. With a witch like Adeline running around, not to mention the ruffians under her thumb, strangers like Liam and Katin couldn’t move freely in Carson’s Watch.
He glanced up at James, who seemed lost in thought. “So. I imagine folks here might take it kindly if the Adeline problem were to end up solved.”
James started and looked at him. “I suppose that’s true.”
“If I could deal with that problem, do you think the townsfolk might see their way clear to lending me and my wife a pair of horses?”
James narrowed his eyes. “I’d ask where you need to get to so bad, but… What d’you have in mind?”
Liam quickly outlined his plan. The women didn’t need to hear about this. Katin would raise a fuss, and who knew whether Lisa would go along quietly with her husband? Maybe when riled, she was as combative as Katin. “All I need is a way to signal you. How many men could you gather?”
“If you do what you say you will… I can get the whole town behind me.” He glanced at the kitchen and leaned in close. “But how can you just ‘deal with’ a witch?”
“Don’t worry about that. Just give me a day or two to rest up.”
James chewed on his lip. “We’re in danger if anyone finds out you were staying here.”
“You’re in danger as long as that mad girl is playing with fire. I can get rid of her. I just need to know I can count on you.”
James looked down at the tea. He drained his cup in one long draft, and clanked it onto the table. “So be it.”
CHAPTER 32
AMIRA
The Queen of Mages Page 36